Several days pa.s.sed, and Ida did not come, but Jack would not consent to Cora returning the ring to her. In the meanwhile the young people had discussed over and over again the beautiful fete given by Cora, though the finding of the bonds and the story of the ring was kept within a small, select circle. Ed Foster took the bonds to the bank and received for them part of the stock for which he had negotiated. The rest, he said, would be held for him.
"And I"m pretty sure I"ll get the rest of my twenty thousand dollars back soon," he said. "At least, nearly all the cash."
Mrs. Kimball went to the city to prepare for her trip to Bermuda, and it was a few days later, when some of the recent excitement had worn off, that Cora began to feel a sense of loneliness stealing over her. Her mother seldom went away from home.
"Oh, dear!" she exclaimed as she sat in the library trying to be interested in a book. "I wish something--"
Out on the driveway a triumphant "honk-honk!" drew her attention.
"I hope that"s--" she began, but she did not finish, for she saw the Robinson twins in a shining, new car, Bess at the wheel, as though she had been running one for months, and the sisters both attired in their becoming motoring costumes.
"Come on!" cried Bess as Cora leaned out of the window. "Get your car and we"ll take a spin! Isn"t ours a beauty?"
"Oh, isn"t it!" cried Cora delightedly. "But I thought it wasn"t to come for a week."
"We couldn"t help deceiving you, Cora, dear," answered Belle. "But you see--"
"And you can run it all alone?" interrupted Cora.
"Yes, all by our lonelies," answered Bess. "You see, we wanted to surprise you, so we didn"t tell you exactly when it was coming. When it arrived we got Paul--I mean Mr. Hastings, of course--we got him to give us lessons along a quiet road, where we never met any one who knew us. And father is not a bit timid about us going out alone since Paul--I mean--"
"Never mind explaining," broke in Cora with a laugh.
"Well, since Paul showed us how to run it. Papa has taken a great notion to Paul," finished Bess with the suspicion of a blush.
"How about the daughter?" asked Cora gaily. "Of course, she would never take a notion to the same young man her father happened to favor."
"Oh, you horrid creature!" exclaimed Bess. "He did teach me beautifully, of course. But a girl may look at a chauffeur, I suppose, just as a cat may gaze at a crowned monarch."
"Oh, certainly," conceded Cora. "So you are really going out for a spin? I"ll get ready and we"ll go together: I was just wondering what I could do until dinner-time. Jack is out with some friends, and I was just plain lonesome."
"Put on your new costume," directed Belle. "We want people to look at us. Isn"t it perfectly splendid to have a regular set of cars?"
"Yes. We ought to get up an auto show," agreed Cora as she hastened off to make ready for her ride.
They selected a quiet road. In spite of the shadows of the trees it was hot. The swift motion of the cars, however, relieved the humidity of the atmosphere in a measure.
"Which way?" asked Cora as they came to a turn.
"Down by the river," suggested Bess. "We haven"t been out Woodbine way all summer. Let"s go this afternoon."
"All right. I guess I"ll let you set the pace," answered Cora as she held her car back and allowed Bess to take the lead, which the fair amateur motorist did gracefully and with no little skill.
They attracted some attention as they skimmed along in their new outfits and their new cars, And with their bright faces showing their happiness.
Many stopped to look and admire and could not but smile at the evident pleasure the motor girls were having.
""Far from the maddening crowd,"" quoted Belle as they swung down the quiet river road. "But do be careful, Bess," she urged. "I know you understand as much about the car as I do, but I always feel that I ought to have a life preserver on when any mere girl--including myself--is at the helm of such a powerful craft."
Bess laughed and replied lightly. She had perfect confidence in her ability to guide the Flyaway, as they had christened the new car.
"Isn"t it close?" called Cora as she tried to steer out of the way of a stone and failed, thereby receiving quite a jolt. "I"m afraid we"re going to have rain before we get back--a thunder shower, likely. It"s sultry."
"Oh, I hope we don"t have a storm," replied Bess. "I"ll hate to get my new machine all splashed up with mud, to say nothing of spoiling our new auto suits."
"Then we had better not get too far out and away from shelter,"
suggested Cora. "There! Isn"t that thunder?"
There was a low, distant rumbling.
"That or blasting," said Belle.
"It is thunder," was Cora"s opinion. "I hope we can find some shelter."
"Shelter!" exclaimed Bess as she looked anxiously up at the gathering clouds. "How could we ever get the cars under any ordinary shelter?
"That"s what I can"t get used to about an auto--the size of it.
They"re like houses to me, as big as all outdoors."
"I know of an old barn out this way, over toward Woodbine," went on Cora. "We would likely find that open, for when I went past there the other day they were getting ready to put the hay in."
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Belle as the thunder sounded nearer and louder. "I wish we could get back home. Turn around, Bess., dear."
"I can"t," declared her sister with a nervous little laugh. "The road is too narrow for me to make a turn in, and I haven"t yet learned how to reverse well. We"ll have to keep on until I get to a wide place."
"I don"t want to do that!" objected Belle. "Let"s stop the car, get out, and push it around. Surely we can do that. Don"t go any farther."
"Yes, yes!" cried Cora. "Keep on. It"s too late to turn back now.
There! It"s raining! Let me get ahead, and I"ll show you the way-a short cut. I know how to get through that lane."
Her car shot ahead, the girl skillfully guiding it, and the twins timidly following, until, with many a twist and turn, Cora piloted them up a little hill to a big red barn, with the wide doors invitingly open.
"Drive right inside," called Cora, slowing down her car. "I guess no one will object, and we haven"t any lights to put out, as the warning over the door of the garage says."
The rain was falling in torrents now, and before Cora could get the Whirlwind wholly within the shelter, and while yet the Flyaway was entirely out; the girls received quite a wetting. A moment later they were out of the storm in the barn, had stopped their cars, and shut off the engines.
"Suppose the owner doesn"t like it?" suggested Belle.
"Well, we"re in, anyway," declared Cora, "and I guess they won"t put us out. But we must be careful. Don"t let any gasolene or oil drip out. But I guess it won"t, as both the cars are new."
No one but themselves seemed to be in the barn, which was odorous with new-mown hay, great mows of it being on either side of the broad floor on which the autos stood.
"There are some men coming," announced Bess, looking out through the big doors into a mist of rain.
"The haymakers," announced Cora. "They were getting in the crop, but the rain didn"t let them finish. See how they"re running."
"What shall we do when they come in?" inquired Belle, anxiety depicted on her face.